West Germany: General Unease

When the West German defense ministry last month abruptly announced the
early retirement of a four-star general who was one of NATO's two
deputy commanders. Bonn buzzed with rumors about why the alliance's
high command harbored a security risk. West German Defense Minister
Manfred Wörner last week ended the speculation, but added to the
uproar. He asserted in a terse televised announcement that General
Günter Kiessling, 58, was an active homosexual. In a letter to
Kiessling's lawyer, which was not made public but was excerpted in some
German newspapers, Wörner said that the general...